Willys Jeep; Maintenance month...

 

May is Maintenance month for the jeep with annual engine service which includes oil change , oil filter and fuel filter replacement and air filter cleaned, spark plugs, points and condenser replaced, 

Today I checked and topped up the transmission oil in the front and rear axles, transfer box and gearbox. These take SAE 90 or 110 grade oil and is an easy job which is just a case of removing the filler/oil level plug and using a cheap £10 transfer pump screwed into a emptied screen wash 5 litre container half filled with SAE 110...

The plugs are square headed and not torqued tight but feel tight with the thread lock used. I bought a small tube of Permatex which is what USA Jeep mechanics seem to use. An adjustable is also easier to grip the plug square heads which are not exactly square after years of removal probably with the wrong size/or a metric spanner...

Starting on the front axle I soon had the top up plug unscrewed and topped it up only requiring 2 pumps of the transfer pump...

One pump too many resulted in a bit of oil wasted..

While it drained off to the level I dried and applied Permatex to the plug threads before reinserting it and only tightening it to `Spark Plug Tight` - that's hand tight then a wee nip up and job done...

Transfer pump pipe has a neat end with plastic tabs that catch on the casing threads reducing spillage...

Front axle done  I repeated this procedure on the Transfer box, strangely though it was over full and oil came out when the filler plug was removed!, the Jeep is on level ground so how did this happen?, can oil leak from the gearbox into the transfer box?, I need to try find out...

Onto the rear axle next and it only took 2 pumps of oil which is hardly anything...

Gearbox next and it has a different  oil level/filler sump plug with a large hex head...

It took the most topping up with 6 or 7 pumps until it was up to the level...

Then I greased all the grease points. Photo coping the manual then laminating these pages save on getting a fingerprint dirty manual - top tip there!

Lying on your side underneath you can slightly roll the Jeep back and forward with your feet on the tyres to access prop-shaft grease nipples...

If a grease nipple refuses to take grease clean it and use a sharp point to push in the tiny ball bearing and it should start to work...

Laminated maintenance manual pages...

Only thing I did not grease was the steering as you need a short grease gun or one with Flexi pipe to access track rod ends, I will do this soon at a friends house who has one, to be fair in a year of use nothing took more than two pumps of a grease gun to see grease coming out...

I also gave the leaf springs and shock bushes a spray with Lanoguard which lessened the squeaking when the Jeep hits bumps...

That evening I was out in the Jeep on a solo with G on nightshift and went to see friend and Jeep owner Chris who had a visit from some other Jeep enthusiasts  and we all took a drive across to Abbey St Bathans for them to take some pictures and film - more on that soon...

 I drove home as the sunset - I prefer to be home before dark as safer and less drama if any mechanicals etc... and it was a fun drive, what was not so fun was having a Roe Deer Buck run right out infant of me and it was a good test of the Jeep brakes that locked up controllably.. That Deer cheated death!...

I will change the engine oil and filters when the speedo clocks another 200 miles on the speedo and rounds it to 2000 miles since last oil change...

Here is a short film I made, song is ` The Black Mill Video tape` by Pye Corner Audio

More soon...